Goal of the Graduate School

The Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences pursues the creation of academic knowledge and the systemization of new value, while seeking out paths to interdisciplinary studies and integration of academic fields from the perspective of “co-existence.” Graduate Schools in the fields of Humanities and Social Sciences are expected not only to contribute to the development and increased depth of academic research and to produce researchers (i.e., pass on knowledge) in individual research fields, but also to promote education and research (interdisciplinary research and research that combines the sciences and the humanities) that can respond to many issues that the modern society has faced.

It has become necessary to foster outstanding manpower that can accurately understand the social, cultural, and religious diversity of societies and organizations in countries around the world, minimize the physical, cultural and psychological damages caused by conflicts between cultures – from wars between countries to regional conflicts – and transform the frictions and discord arising from those conflicts into new order and cultures. In recent years, it has also become necessary to build flexible education and research organizations that combine various fields, in order to maintain a multi-faceted view of the societies and organizations that are part of complex interactions. With societies and economies becoming increasingly borderless, information technologies more evolved, and industries and corporate management more advanced, we must foster employees and specialists who can respond to these trends. The regional community has made strong requests for the University to “return knowledge to the community,” by providing a venue for the increase of the skills of public servants and employees of companies and other organizations, and for lifelong education targeting mature students. The Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences has put in place various types of education and research structures to respond to these issues.

This Graduate School has independent functions and roles for fundamental specialized education in the undergraduate and specialized education, and maintains an education and research system in which each of these functions and roles can interact organically. The transition from the undergraduate program to the Master’s Program provides students with an increase of depth and breadth of specialized research and interdisciplinary studies. In the Doctoral Program, students receive education and guidance in conducting research from more comprehensive and advanced interdisciplinary perspectives. The Graduate School offers an education and research system that is fully capable of accommodating individual research in the traditional academic fields of the humanities and the social sciences (including the humanities, law, economics, and management).